Women's bike rides starting

The Women's Bicycle Rides will start the first Thursday in April from the LaGrange General Store (intersection of Highway 12 and County Road H in LaGrange).

Submitted Photo

The Thursday women's bicycle rides are a fun way to meet other women cyclists and to enjoy a Thursday night out with your girlfriends.

The women-only bicycle rides are every Thursday at 6 p.m. from April through September.

This year the rides will begin Thursday, April 3 at 6 p.m.

These are road rides done on local back roads around Kettle Moraine (not mountain biking) so it is advantageous to have a road bike plus a helmet, water, snacks and biking clothes. The bike rides are informal and unsupported so riders are responsible for themselves and their own safety.

The Thursday evening women bike rides accommodate all ability levels and all ages. There are usually 15-30 women at each ride between the ages of 18-65+. A buddy system is used so that no one is left behind unsupported and new attendees are paired with someone from the group to ensure that the experience is enjoyable. Printed maps with three different routes are provided before each ride so you can decide how far and how fast. For the early season rides the short distance is about 12 miles, the medium distance about 16 miles and the long distance about 20 miles. Over the season the distance and pace will increase but shorter distances and/or slower paces are always optional. There is enough variety to accommodate training rides and fun/leisure rides.

A social afterward at the LaGrange General Store is a fun way to end the evening.

New this year are 20-minute mini-clinics, which will be offered after the bike rides at the General Store, on topics such as map reading, safe riding, cycling/group riding techniques, nutrition and others. Separate tire changing/bike maintenance clinics will also be offered at least three times during the biking season. Additionally, the General Store is developing a schedule of fun post-ride events in addition to the mini-clinics so keep this in mind for your Thursday night out.

For more information or to be included on a bike-ride distribution e-mail list please e-mail Mary at mary@jrsweb.com or call Mary at 473-8451.